Letters Page

Dear John & Sally

I notice that yet again Morrisseys Pub in Doonbeg Co Clare is sporting a Bridgestone plaque for good food this year. Whilst I agree that the food is excellent it may have escaped your attention that for the second year in a row Morrisseys had a large sign on the door from the August Bank holiday weekend until the end of the summer season refusing entry to children after six pm. When you are awarding these "gongs" are ambience and atmosphere not taken into account. At the best of times this is a pub that panders to the pretensions of the worst of Limericks elderly middle classes who well after food service is finished are likely to treat the huddled masses to very third rate Gilbert and Sullivan. In what is after all a holiday area I find it extraordinary that any pub that discriminates against children (and by extension their parents) should be deemed worthy of an award. It would be just about acceptable in a restaurant (only just) but in A PUB? Betty and her crew would do well to take a trip on the ferry to Allo's in Listowel a pub that is truly deserving of the many Bridgestone plaques it displays or indeed the excellent Pantry in Kilkee. Myself and my family regularly holiday in the South West and make great use of your guide which is excellent. You must count yourself fortunate indeed that the £100 Renault 4 didn't disgorge yourself, Sally and the Children in Doonbeg in August after six pm or you would have gone to bed hungry.

Kind Regards

Nathan

Thanks Nathan. The whole question of pubs and children is a complicated one, and some places still take the view that a premises serving alcohol should be reserved for adults, at least in the evening time. Ambience and atmosphere are considered before we decide if anyone can be offered a plaque, but the food in Morrisey's swings it over the Gilbert and Sullivan.

Couldn't agree with you more regarding Allo's, which is benchmark in every way, and which works, above all, because it is a pub for the local folk, who eat and drink here, and who pack it out on Thursday nights for the great value theme evenings. The £100 Renault 4 has had to be traded in, now that we are dull old parents, for a dull old Renault Scenic, bought in the hope that, if the kids each had a seat to themselves, they wouldn't fight so much. Vain hope!

Dear John and Sally

We visited County Mayo this summer and bought your book - bit disappointed there was only one restaurant in it! We visited it and wasn't that impressed. We did discover an excellent one that I think should be in your next book instead. Crockets on the Quay in Ballina, Mayo. The food was great (best we'd eaten all week) and the atmosphere was very good -only downside was that they allowed smoking inside the restaurant. Hope it is a candidate for your next issue.

Jo Webb

Thanks Jo. Mayo needs lots of good restaurants, and we are sure in time they will come ­ see the letter about Castlebar below. One thing that struck us recently, strolling around Westport, was: why has this town got such an unearthly number of chemist's shops? It's unbelieveable. They clearly work on the principle of one pharmacy for every 10 citizens in Westport!

Dear John and Sally

I'm writing to you about a restaurant in Castlebar, that I'm very surprised that hasn't caught your attention by now. I'm talking about Café Rua in Newantrim Street. Anne McMahon has run this restaurant with a focus on quality and seasonality for many years and has now handed it over to her daughter. She sources most of her produce locally and has a local community development unit producing her organic fruit, vegetables and herbs. I don't have your eloquence when describing food, however I do recognize freshness and originality. I've eaten and stayed in the majority of establishments recommended in your publications, some on a regular basis. I have also eaten in Café Rua regularly. I would say that the food here is consistently better than that of a few of the other establishments you regularly recommend. The café is only open until 6pm and perhaps that is why it escaped your attention. As you have quite correctly pointed out, this area is a culinary wasteland. All the more important then, to celebrate the treasures we do have and encourage them when perhaps local acknowledgement is not forthcoming.

R. Heverin

Thank you R. Heverin. We are always glad to hear of hot new recommendations.